Over the last month we (public
works) have been busy developing and pitching
ideas that are concerned with establishing Curiosity Shop projects
in Hackney Wick. Not all were successful and will not be taken
further in the way they were first articulated. The ideas linger on
and will work themselves into future projects, ideas and ambitions.
Just to mark the point when they were first articulated I thought I
publish two of them here - WICK WICK WICK & SWEET FACTORY - to
make them public and for future reference.
PROPOSAL 1
WICK WICK WICK
A platform for a collaborative practice to create an active
monument for Hackney Wick. Wick Wick Wick is a proposal
for the 'Made in HWFI' Wallis Road Commission consisting of the
following three aspects:
1. The Wick Column (physical structure)
- We propose a large column on the land next to the footbridge
crossing the A12 motorway. The column acts as a sculptural landmark
and as infrastructure for a collaborative process to activate the
land on which it is found. The Wick Column is the main focus of
this submission but needs to be understood in context as it is
integral to the following elements that make up the overall
proposal.
2. The Wick Triangle (land for collaborative
practice)
- We propose to make land available for a potentially longer term
collaborative project the outcome of which (together with the
column) will ultimately become the final landmark along the Wallis
Road route strongly embedding it into Hackney Wick and its rich
culture and history.
3. The Wick Curiosity Shop (governance and
process)
- We propose the Wick Curiosity Shop as an independent organisation
with the specific aim of initiating and facilitating local
collaborations. These collaborations will contribute to shaping the
land ultimately create a living landmark that captures the
collective imagination of Hackney Wick. The Wick Wick Wick proposal
is a direct continuation of the 'Wick Curiosity Shop' (http://wickcuriosityshop.net)
and the 'Route Book' project, which is part of the same series of
the 'Made in HWFI' commissions.
Made in Hackney Wick
For centuries Hackney Wick has been a place of production -
initially agricultural then industrial and lately increasingly
cultural. Before its recent phase of development Hackney Wick
provided a remote space and a rich environment for a wide range of
often alternative cultural practices. Space was cheap and available
while the centre of London was close by but also far enough away. A
post industrial landscape sometimes forgotten and abandoned with
enough gaps and cracks for experimentation with cultural
production, slightly removed from the confines of a rich capitalist
city. All this is changing rapidly - the 'wilderness' of workshops,
yards, overgrown green spaces, disused race tracks and artist
studios is disappearing. The 'service based' culture of the big
City is arriving and Hackney Wick is being tidied up and brought in
line with the rest of London. At the dawn of this new era there are
numerous attempts to preserve, acknowledge and reference the rich
culture that is associated with Hackney Wick and Fish Island. The
area inspires and excites but there are few places where these
efforts come together in a combined expression. Within this context
we are proposing an ambitious project that attempts to bridge the
layers of history and the numerous cultural practices that are
currently occupying Hackney Wick and Fish Island. As a practice
Public Works are committed to continue our long term engagement
with Hackney Wick and its occupants to establish a collective space
for shared cultural production which bridges this period of rapid
transformation. At the same time, Wick, Wick, Wick is attempting to
lay a seed for the time beyond the Olympic Games when national and
international attention and resources move on, leaving the Wick
clean and tidy, having to make sense of the major interventions
that took place. We are proposing a place where - for a long time
to come, its roots are still visible as an 'active monument'.
1. The Wick Column
The Wick Column is the first piece of the puzzle. A one meter wide
and app 12 metre high round column next to the footbridge crossing
the A12. The column is situated at the bottom of the ramp on the
green piece of land that stretches along the motorway (we call this
piece of land the Wick Triangle). The column will act on a number
of physical scales and levels. At the foot of the column is a small
multifunctional room - The Wick Curiosity Shop - which can
generously open up towards the land and to the streetscape. The
room is slightly elevated and sits on a raised platform. Towards
the street the opening of the room is covered by a large communal
billboard, which can slide vertically to give access to the space
via a counter creating a kiosk-like environment. This environment
can host small-scale exhibitions or events as well as providing
basic street furniture. The opening towards the back faces the Wick
Triangle and consists of two large hinged doors. When open the
space overlooks the land and due to its slightly elevated nature
can act as a perfect stage. At bridge level the column will connect
to the footpath and will act as a sheltered viewing platform
looking into the Wick. Above Bridge level a large light board will
display 'Hackney Wick' in large letters. It can also be used
advertise public, cultural activities taking place in the Wick.
Placed at one of the gateways into Hackney Wick the column will be
highly visible to the cyclist and pedestrians moving in and out of
the Wick as well as to the transient audiences that pass via car
and train (A12 motorway and North London Link).
2. The Wick Triangle
One aim of the overall proposal is the transformation and
appropriation of a piece of land by initiating a series of bottom
up collaborations that will transform and shape the site. The land
will be offered to the occupants of Hackney Wick as a ground for
cultural production mediated by the 'Wick Curiosity Shop' (see
description below). Each collaboration will focus on Hackney Wick's
rich culture both contemporary and historical and will shape the
site either temporarily (events) or permanently (interventions). We
propose to open up the land to anyone who wants to work with us and
allow them to take an active part in the project by joining the
Wick Curiosity Shop. The musicians, film makers, graffiti artists,
cooks, painters, publishers and fish mongers, flee market and
festivals, screenings and concerts etc … By offering this common
ground as a collective asset we hope to engage and draw from the
rich social dynamic in Hackney Wick to shape the project and the
space. To visualise what could happen we have taken two speculative
examples from our current involvement in Hackney Wick and bluntly
projected them onto this proposal.
A) Hackney Wick has an active guerrilla gardening scene and has
numerous ambitious gardening projects in close vicinity (edible
forest garden, manor garden allotments, Abbey Gardens, etc). The
footbridge and the 'Wick Triangle' also mark the beginning of the
'Sunflower Avenue', a local initiative to grow a connection between
Mabley Green and Victoria park by planting Sunflowers along the
route which cuts straight through the heart of Hackney Wick. Our
current Commission 'Route Book' is working closely with gardeners
from Hackney Wick to trace the route of the ephemeral Sunflower
Avenue and reseed it using seed bombs produced with the local
community. As a possible scenario for Wick Wick Wick we would
propose to work with the LDA and its current planting scheme for
the site and match it with the local desires, ambitions and
techniques for greening the Wick. This would build on local
resources and imagination to grow and sustain greenery on the Wick
Triangle, while at each point leaving space for possible future use
by other collaborations.
B) Local historians have taken an active interest in Hackney
Wick. We have started working with Wiggy Wilson who grew up in the
area and who's father was a member of the Eton Manor Boys Club.
Over the last years Wiggy Wilson has lead numerous walks around the
Wick retracing the history of the Eton Manor boys club and the
involvement of the Etonians in the area. The work with Wiggy Wilson
and other local historians (e.g. Lisa Rigg from the Hackney
Society) could lead to a library or wall of walks through the Wick
housed on the land or on the outside of the column itself. Each
engagement would leave its trace, some small, others bigger. Over
time a layering of projects would occur which gives form to the
space and constructs a network of relations and stakeholders. Very
much in the spirit of Kurt Schwitters Merzbau. We propose to set up
the 'land engagement' for 3-5 years after which it should be
reassessed and either enter into a new phase or conclude, in which
case the legacy of the project would be a detailed archive that can
be housed inside the column or become part of the official Hackney
Archives.
3. The Wick Curiosity Shop
The Wick Curiosity Shop (http://wickcuriosityshop.net) is
a small scale archive and cultural space dedicated to the specific
locality of Hackney Wick and Fish Island. It aims to document, host
and promote. The project was originally commissioned by [SPACE] for
the Hackney Wick Festival in September 2008. It is a collaboration
between public works and
Hilary Powell.
For Wick Wick Wick we are proposing to expand
the Curiosity Shop into an independent smallscale cultural
organisation to support the project, lead by public works with a
steering group and open to anyone who wants to take an active part.
The main focus of The Wick Curiosity Shop will be to create and
facilitate a platform for collaborative cultural production
dedicated to the specific locality of Hackney Wick and Fish
Island.
In addition the Wick Curiosity Shop will continue to create a
growing archive of 'Curiosities', an eclectic collection of local
produce, memorabilia, oral history, songs and stories from or about
Hackney Wick that are collected along the way and which will be
housed in the 'kiosk'. Working on the scale of the artefact and the
land at the same time, the Wick Curiosity Shop will present a
narrative understanding of the area. A space full of stories about
the Wick told in a multitude of ways. It is an archive of local
cultural activities and interventions that help to document the
process of change in the area with the close involvement of its
local residents. It allows existing histories to be collected and
new memories to be formed, thus capturing the life of a community
in transition through a series of close engagements, which will
manifest themselves in the Wick Triangle, at the Column and in the
collection. Contributions to the Curiosity shop cannot be made from
afar. Based on the principle of direct involvement only those who
get actively involved can join in.
PROPSOAL 2
SWEET FACTORY
for Create 2011
Sweet Factory is a proposal to set up a small scale sweet
factory and shop in one of the host boroughs in order to produce
sweets and explore the historic and contemporary narratives
surrounding its production and consumption across the 5 host
boroughs.
Sweet Factory will establish a small scale local production of
sweets. It will draw from the wide variety of sweets consumed or
remembered by the many different cultures living in the 5 host
boroughs today, recreate them and offer them for consumption at the
factory outlet and at local events across the 5 host boroughs.
Leaving behind the nostalgia associated with traditional candy
shops, The Sweet Factory will be a 21st century interpretation of a
sweet shop offering home made sweets made with recipes from local
residents and produced where possible from locally sourced
ingredients. It will (re)introduce a small-scale candy production
and invent new varieties alongside revisiting well-established
recipes.
From Poplar Salty Liqurice (referring back to early Dutch
settlements in the area), to Bangladeshi Pumpkin leave candy,
social histories and tastes can be explored via the shared
production of candy.
The project will engage with communities and participants across
the host borrows both vie the production of the sweet as well as
disseminating them by visiting local food events such as Harvest
Festivals, local Markets and others.
The Sweet Factory will be based around a specially designed
temporary structure. It will consists of a production space and a
social space (sweet shop) where the produce will be on display
available for consumption, meetings can take place and the
different narratives can be displayed, overlap and unfold.
We are planning to directly engage and visit food growing
projects located in the host borrows to source possible
ingredients, visit sweet makers in the areas and source recipes by
directly getting in touch with local community groups and
individuals that want to participate in the project. We will invite
professional sweet makers to share their knowledge as well as
amateur candy makers to contribute in the making of the
produce.
The project will also look at the history of sweet production in
the areas from the Carnico Factory in Hackney Wick to the Tate and
Lyle's sugar refinery in Silvertown and the historic sugar bakeries
that were scattered all over the east end and which employed many
of the immigrants that newly arrived in Britain.
The project will be accompanied by a Website which will
publicize the project as it develops. If the budget allows we would
invest into a small mobile vehicle to give us a base when traveling
across the 5 borrows.
Sweets are an indulgence. They are not a necessity. We want to
work with the delight and pleasure that sweet teeth can offer to
engage with the host borrows in a project of collective production,
exchange and invention. Not only of sweets but also of a joint
narrative.
